This Air India crash eyewitness cheated death by a whisker—'a blast, then a fireball, just 200 m away'

The Print

2 days ago

Never did Krish imagine that he would witness such a deadly air crash. There was a loud blast and then a fireball, he recalled. When he reached the site at IGB compound, the 21-year-old momentarily froze on seeing mangled debris and disfigured bodies among others.
In fact, the Meghaninagar resident is still in a daze as he, his family and many other houseowners cheated death by a whisker: Air India's flight AI171 crashed barely 200 metres away from his house.
Ahmedabad: Planes flying close by is a regular sight for Krish Patani. But, the scenes involving an aircraft on Thursday afternoon will remain sketched forever in his mind.
'The spot is near my house. There was an atmosphere of fear among us. If it (the plane) had fallen in the main residential area, a lot of people would have lost their lives,' Krish told ThePrint at the B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital where he had arrived with a relative.
Apart from the 241 aboard the flight killed in the crash, several others are feared to have perished in the tragedy. There are reports in which medical students mention that the toll would have been higher if the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had torn into the hostel a few minutes later.
Krish recalled the ill-fated plane flying close to houses and felt that it would have crashed in the main residential area had it not been the effort of pilots till the last moment.
'Within a few seconds, there was a big explosion and flames spread all around. There was chaos in the area, and the people started running everywhere,' he said, adding that Meghaninagar's situation became chaotic Thursday.
The plane, he added, crashed into the hostel of the medical college where several doctors and PG students were having their lunch. 'The crash happened when students were having lunch during break time. The wall had collapsed there. We helped remove them from the debris yesterday,' he said.
Krish with his friends, brothers rushed to the crash site, right after the plane crash. The area was engulfed with smoke, while the heat high and the stench unbearable, he added.
Bodies were strewn all over, many of them dismembered. 'Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition,' he recalled, adding that identifying the dead would be a tall task. 'I have never seen anything like this in my life.'
All the vehicles nearby the crash site were burnt to ashes, he said. 'There has been a lot of damage.'
'We helped several people, and even rescued some. The police arrived there and took over the rescue operation,' he said, adding that the whole area was cordoned off soon after for investigators to take over.
At the crash site on Friday, forensic teams collected samples for evidence while officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) among others were also present there. The black box of the crashed plane was recovered from the rooftop of the residential quarters of B.J.Medical College.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Meet the forensic dentist racing against time so kin of Air India crash victims can say final goodbye